


The Prince and The Pauper

by LeelaLaFleur



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Poor Anakin, obikin, rich Obi-Wan, slash-duh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-29
Updated: 2016-03-29
Packaged: 2018-05-29 20:00:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6391282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeelaLaFleur/pseuds/LeelaLaFleur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Obi-Wan, a 17-year-old heir to one of the biggest companies in Coruscant, gets lost in The Lower Level, where he meets Anakin Skywalker, a poor 25-year-old mechanic with big dreams and love for drag races. Together, they learn what it means to love someone beyond socioeconomic stereotypes. (Jedi and Sith are nothing more but gangs :D )<br/>Modern/human cousin story to Show Me, Tell Me</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Prince and The Pauper

**Author's Note:**

> Here are just few notes on the world/setting I was imagining:  
> Coruscant- a large city (like a bigger, denser version of NYC)  
> Upper Level- banking/business district, this is where Kenobi Enterprise resides  
> Federal Heights- part of Upper Level where rich people live, Obi-Wan's home  
> Mid-Level (or Mids)- part of town where the middle class lives/works, Padme's home, Kenobi Institute of Engineering and Mechanics is here, too  
> Lower Level- the poorest part of town where factories are and poor people live, Anakin's home :) )  
> The Inner Rim-is the 'state'
> 
> This is really just for fun, to relax during writing Show Me, Tell Me, so do let me know what you think and whether you like the idea :)

_‘He’s useless! The kid was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, what does he know about worker’s rights and dealing with unions? I bet he couldn’t even find his way around the Lower Level without having to hire a team of geographical advisers!’_

Obi-Wan ran his trembling hand through his neatly trimmed reddish hair as the bitter words of Ruwee Naberrie, one of the biggest industrial magnates, replayed in his mind.

_Damn it_ , he cursed silently, desperately trying to control the scowl that was about to break through his mask of neutrality.

Obi-Wan truly hated that man. Unfortunately for him though, Mr. Naberrie was on the Board of Advisers of Kenobi Enterprise, which meant that any sort of a direct conflict was to be avoided at all cost. You see, Kenobi Enterprise was one of the Inner Rim’s largest industrial companies, and in few months, once he reached the legal age of 18, Obi-Wan Kenobi was to join his father, Zenaar Kenobi, as a co-president and CEO of the whole business. He has been in training for years, dutifully following his father around, making contracts and learning the ropes of business law, but, obviously, for some people it still wasn’t enough. Today was a prime example.

Per request of his father, Obi-Wan’d been sent to the Lower Level of Coruscant to strike a deal with one of the small factory owners regarding possible merger between them and KE. The negotiation had gone smoothly until he started evaluating the impossibly high demands the workers’ union propositioned. Recognizing unprofitable business, Obi-Wan had immediately backed off from the deal and refused to debate any further advancement until the union revised these demands. This did not sit well with Ruwee Naberrie. As a man of humble beginnings, the adviser had a soft spot for people of lower class and always rooted for proper employee benefits and high wages. Obi-Wan understood that, but he simply could not enter an unlucrative contract, which could end up costing KE a good sum of money. And that was only the beginning of his problem…

Right after the unsuccessful meeting, Mr. Naberrie'd contacted the Board and angrily complained about Obi-Wan’s decision and business tactic, which naturally included few jabs at his young age and general mistrust in his capabilities as a normal human being.

Of course, the young heir knew that he was raised in the world of wealth and privilege, there was no denying that, but it still bothered him that other people had such low opinion of his ability to survive in the real world.

Was he truly that delusional and naïve?

_Damn it_ , Obi-Wan cursed again and tiredly glanced out of the car window at the passing buildings. The truth was that the Lower Level did not look like the most hospitable place out there. Short red-brick houses, most not higher than 13 floors, were in varying states of decay, and the shops below them either locked behind thick metal bars or seemingly deserted. Many old beaten cars were haphazardly parked along the cracked sidewalks, which at this early hour only served as playground for smaller children. With a sigh, Obi-Wan realized just how much his black Rolls Royce limousine must stand out. Maybe he was truly too spoiled to live without luxuries..

His hands instinctively went to slide across the cool, tan-colored leather of the back seat. Leather was a luxury. He could live without that, couldn’t he?

Tracing his hand’s movements, his eyes came to rest on the Hublot watch, which was firmly secured around his left wrist. He definitely did not need that, he decided and within next second the metal clip was unclasped and the silver watch was laying on the seat next to him. The suit jacket he had tailored specifically for this trip soon followed. He could live without all of these things, he told himself. Looking back out the window, Obi-Wan noticed few pedestrians quizzically staring at the limo as he passed by.

_‘I bet he couldn’t even find his way around the Lower Level without having to hire a team of geographical advisers!’_

Could he?

“Stop the car.” Young Kenobi ordered the chafer quietly, suddenly wanting nothing but to get out.

“Master Kenobi, we have not entered the Upper Level yet. There is still ways to go before- ” the older man behind the stirring wheel spoke in a calm, almost patronizing tone, like he was explaining a complex mathematical equation to a 5-year-old.

_Oh no!_ , thought young heir desperately _, Even the driver thinks I have no idea what I’m doing_.

“I don’t care! I said stop the car!” demanded Obi-Wan harshly.

Sensing his displeased mood, the driver carefully guided the vehicle to the full stop near the side of the road. Obi-Wan snatched his wallet and swiftly jumped out of the car before the other man could walk over and open the door for him.   

“You can return to the Federal Heights. I shall call you if needed.”

“But Master Kenobi-” protested the chafer, but Obi-Wan simply shut the limo’s door before he could finish.

With his empty hands tightly clutched into fists, Obi-Wan watched as the limousine hesitantly pulled back into the traffic and slowly disappeared behind the corner.

_Well, that was easy_ , thought Obi-Wan, cautiously looking around. This street was probably even more deserted than the previous one, except for an elderly couple sitting on the front steps of one of the nicer buildings. Analytically scanning the road in each direction, Obi-Wan searched for any possible clues to his current location, but, to his great dismay, found all the street signs either missing from their posts, marred by graffiti, or broken to the point of illegibility. The fact that most of the housing units looked almost identical did not help either. Luckily for him, the bright, imposing skyline of Upper Level, where he normally resided, was still visible above the flat rooftops in the distance to the north and so Obi-Wan began his foot journey in that general direction.

***

Four hours, and nearly 5 miles later, the exhausted heir was forced to admit that he was completely and utterly lost. The sun was slowly setting, the sidewalks began to fill with people returning from work, and the inner city skyline was no longer visible.

Obi-Wan instinctively brought up his left arm to check the time on his watch, but then remembered that most of his possessions, including said watch, were still on the back seat of the limo.

_Crap_ , he cursed silently for the n-th time that afternoon and bitterly wondered if going out exploring the Lower Level on his own was such a good idea after all. Maybe he really wasn’t able to do this…

Or maybe he just needed some coffee, decided Obi-Wan happily when he spotted a small, friendly-enough looking diner across the street. With long strides he crossed the street and entered the establishment, finally coming to halt at the far end of the counter. The place was…well, it fit perfectly with everything else in the Lower Level. The gray- white floor consisted of cracked tiles, concrete fillings and few metal plates, which were most likely placed there to cover exposed sewer drains, and Obi-Wan did not even dare to touch the oddly-stained, greasy counter-top. A large, red sign above the cash register read: ‘Welcome to Dex’s. Open dusk ‘til dawn.’

That would explain the seeming lack of clientele, thought Obi-Wan as he scanned the nearly empty dinner. It was still very early into the evening and most of the booths in the room reminded unoccupied.

“Are you gonna order or not?” A soft, but very annoyed, voice disturbed him from his musings, making him look up towards the cashier. The girl behind the counter was, in his opinion, definitively way too young to be working night shifts in an establishment like this. She leaned leisurely on the cash register, her mocha-colored skin perfectly contrasting the snow-white dreads tucked behind a deep blue beanie.

“So?” she asked impatiently, her bored expression lazily drifting from Obi-Wan, to her notepad, and back to Obi-Wan.

“Um, hi. Could I, please, have some caf with a splash of milk?” Obi-Wan asked politely, trying not to anger the server any more than she already was.

“Sure” she muttered and walked away to prepare the beverage. Soon she was back, pushing the steaming to-go cup towards the young heir.

“Here ‘ya go. T’ will be 3 credits..” she informed him dutifully, but her dark eyes were intently staring over his shoulder, towards the front door. Obi-Wan glanced back just in time to see a lone figure, clad in dark hoodie and torn jeans, slip into one of the open booths. The male, as Obi-Wan deduced from the stranger’s tall build and broad shoulders, slumped down onto a chair facing the window, completely obscuring his face from any onlookers.

Probably a regular…

Not thinking much of it, Obi-Wan turned back to the cashier and fished out his wallet. Swiftly rummaging through different bills, he finally found the smallest one of them- a 100-credit bill. In the Upper Level, all trades and purchases were almost exclusively mediated by the use of electronic currency, which allowed many people to completely desert the traditional paper bills in favor of more secure and easily manageable ‘paperless’ payments. Somehow, Obi-Wan doubted that they even had credit card reader in this establishment.

He offered the bill to the white-haired waitress, who just rolled her eyes and pointed to the sign taped to the front of the counter: “Can’t you read? No bills over 20.”   

Obi-Wan retracted his hand, a bit perplexed: “I apologize, but this is the smallest bill I have.”

“Well, that’s just too damn bad, isn’t it?” the young waitress snapped, folding her skinny arms over her chest defensively. “I don’t have to take it.”

“Um, actually…” explained Obi-Wan nervously, his cheeks flushed at the girl’s hostile attitude: “you are required by the federal law to accept any valid form of currency that was approved by-”

“So? I don’t have enough change to give you back.”

“Listen, I-”he started, ready to defend the rules of open trade, but quickly realized that there was probably no way he would win this argument, so instead just decided to take the easiest way out.

“Just take the bill and give me my coffee. I don’t need any change.” Obi-Wan muttered, quickly dropping the large bill onto the counter, grabbed his coffee and walked outside before the little waitress could complain even further.

Taking a small sip of the caf, Obi-Wan had to suppress urge to gag as the bitter, foul tasting liquid touched his tongue. The beverage was heavily diluted with water, luke-warm at best, and probably not very fresh.

_So much for that_ , thought the ginger bitterly and tossed the still-full cup into the nearby trashcan.

The few street lights that were still undamaged slowly flickered on above his head and Obi-Wan decided that it was really time to get going again. Choosing a street, which seemed to be heading in the same direction as he was following before, he briskly hopped onto the sidewalk and started walking. This street was definitely less crowded than the one he was on previously. There were no cars parked on the side, the street lights were off, and almost all of the houses seemed abandoned.

Probably not a best choice, decided Obi-Wan wryly and turned around so he could return to the main street, but a fairly large man blocked his way. Standing straight, he was a good head and half taller than the ginger, and based on the size of his biceps, probably also a lot stronger. His bald head was covered in black and red tattoo, which reached all the way around his skull, onto the temples and cheeks, where it ended with a sharp edge right by the corners of his mouth. A long black, leather coat he wore only served to make the man appear even more menacing.

Shiver ran down Obi-Wan’s back.

“Excuse me.” He muttered and attempted to sidestep the taller man, but another pair of muscular arms grabbed his shoulders from back and roughly shoved him into the wall of one of the buildings.

“Hey!! What’s wrong with you? Leave me be!” huffed Obi-Wan and went to rub the aching spot where his head sharply connected with one of the bricks. There were two more men now, standing at both of his sides.

“I’m afraid that is not possible, sruta sunus.” Grinned the tattooed one, his voice unnaturally deep and threatening as he moved closer to the trapped ginger.

“This should teach you not to wander into our territory” one of the other two laughed hysterically, making a big show of cracking his knuckles before slipping on a pair of metallic knucks.

Young Kenobi swallowed thickly.

At this point he knew he was in trouble. There was no way he could ever take on all three guys- firstly, he had never been in a fight before and therefore had really no idea what to do, and secondly, there were three of them, so even if he by some miracle managed to overpower one of them there were still the other two. Simply put, he was in some deep shit.

"I-I don't know what are you talking about. I was not aware of any crossed property boundaries-" he tried to explain, but the man to his left just smirked and tightened his grip on him.

Obi-Wan pressed his back tightly against the wall as the men neared. The largest one pulled his fisted arm back, getting ready to strike.

Obi-Wan's arms shot up to cover his face, expecting a painful blow, but to his utmost surprise it never came. Slowly lowering his arms again, Obi-Wan realized that most of his view of the attackers was blocked by black fuzzy fabric and a broad back that the said fabric covered. The hooded stranger from the diner, the young heir realized, was standing in front of him, his left hand firmly closed around the tattooed man’s fist.

“I recommend you leave him alone, Maul.” warned the stranger darkly, his tone calm and even.

The one called Maul growled, baring his strangely sharp, pale teeth, rapidly tearing his hand from the other man: “And I recommend you mind your own business, Skywalker!”

“I will once you let him go.” answered Skywalker sharply, nodding his head towards Obi-Wan, but Maul only snarled.     

“Or do you want me to tell Sidious that you’ve been going around and bringing needless attention to the Sith?” With his back still towards Obi-Wan, Skywalker folded his arms over his chest stubbornly. Maul stared at him for a second before waving his hand at the other two men, gesturing them to step down.

“This is not over, grotthu-nutnusi.” spat Maul and Obi-Wan could see Skywalker’s fingers to curl into fists, but the man did not move otherwise.

The assailants slowly walked off and Obi-Wan’s savior finally turned around to face him.

“You really shouldn’t wander around Siths’ territory alone…or at all.” Skywalker chuckled leisurely like nothing really happened, and pulled down the hood of his jacket, revealing a mop of dark blond curls, strong jawline, and a pair of bright blue eyes.     

TBC

                                                                                                                                                                   

 

               


End file.
